How Coffee Once Saved The World
by Nualie
Summary: A story of friendship, mischief, love, and caffeine. AU co-written with oddeyesight.
1. Chapter 1

**This was co-authored with oddeyesight.  
**  
 **Guess who finally overcame writer's block! It's been a while.  
I hope you enjoy this AU as much as we do~**

Kubera doesn't belong to me, because if it did, Leez would have blue hair and eyes. Or orange. Or yellow. or red. Anything but green.

* * *

Making his way to the coffee machine of Mistyshore's Fighter Guild, Saha couldn't help but believe that coffee was undoubtedly one of the Gods' best and most blissful creations.

The time of the fighters' tournament had come back once again, and he went all the way to the water city to join it, even setting down in a hotel in the "muggle" part of the city. The city gathered fighters and admirers from all over the planet, and he honestly hadn't seen so many people at once since the refugee ship arrived in Eloth from Carte.

He knew that his paperwork could wait. He had already done some of it on the airship to here, and he deserved a good cup of coffee to counter the jetlag and the tiredness.

He was here to realize his lifelong dream.

Apart from the hopeless "get buff", of course. His slender body refused to muscle up, whatever he did. He was somewhat physically strong already, but it couldn't seem to show.

He was there to get into the top ten fighters of the tournament.

He had people who wanted him to do the best he could as a fighter. One in particular, he wanted to impress by showing how awesome he was. So that _this person_ could be proud.

And he would.

But- his first priority was the coffee now. When would the damn machine be done?

 _Ah- there it is!_

And just as he was about to reap the prize of his patience, the air cooled a few dozen degrees.

Slowly, he shifted in the direction emitting a dangerous aura.

A glaring, blue-haired teenager was standing there. There was no possible mistake.

"I recommend that you give up this cup of coffee, or the ponytail that is now reaching your shoulders will mysteriously become drastically shorter."

Normally, he would fight verbally for his coffee, and might even wish to escalate it to a physical fight.

But what he saw- what he remembered- was not normal by any definition.

* * *

Blood and pain came first, and _her_ -he knew it was she, but it was not quite _him_ who knew. Or was it?

She looked at him, colder than ice, colder than anything he'd seen, _felt_. Detached. No soul reflected in her empty, pragmatic eyes.

He felt satisfaction somewhat, because he had saved his _someone_ from his enemy- yes, this cold teen was his enemy. His worst enemy, the biggest threat.

Abuser. Liar. Blasphemer.

Murderer.

She was his enemy.

She was _dangerous_ , never mind that these thoughts were not his own, that these memories had never happened-

He fought off the need to shake his head to clear his head, slowly coming back to reality. He could feel his feet on the concrete ground again, but he still felt the gashing wound tearing him apart-

Who? What? Why? _When?_

Nothing made sense, he had to… He had to remember…

He felt some kind of connection loosen. The vivid images that were so overwhelming before were fading away, and the only analogy he found was as if someone was slowly... stepping away from his consciousness.

 _Wait! I don't understand!_

There was nothing to "understand". Only "forgotten" things to be "remembered". If what exists could disappear, why wouldn't what shouldn't become real?

It was almost gone, wispy images escaping his grasp.

 _Her name… Her name was..._

* * *

"Asha Rahiro?!"

Asha froze.

The instant she set foot on Willarv, her name was formally changed to Asha Leez. That is what everyone has called for for the last seven years.

No one but a select few knew the family name she was born with, on this planet. She didn't recognize the man in front her as one of them, with his dark tyrian hair and green-gold eyes. His eyes in particular; she would have remembered these creepy eyes had she known him.

No, it wasn't quite right.

Their color wasn't, on second thought, the thing that was creeping her out. It was something else, something in her very _soul_ that made her shudder. She didn't know why.

She felt as if she had just seen a ghost.

He seemed to be a Quarter, and if his clothing was of any indication, he was a competing fighter.

All of this was thought and analyzed within a second, as she was no one else, after all, other than Asha, the fastest calculator on this planet, as Rao called her.

Just as quick, she regained her composure and prepared an appropriate answer.

"My name is Asha Leez," she said coldly to the man in front of her, "I am not Asha Rahiro, although I am very, _very_ interested in how you knew her."

He stared at her with wide eyes. A quick mixture of emotions - Fear? Terror? Confusion? Understanding?- passed fast in them; too fast for her to identify.

He started speaking rapidly after one aghast second.

"I'm a native of Carte. I used to go to E- to Eos Academy of Magic." He paused and added awkwardly, "I was the student with the lowest Divine Affinity, and I wouldn't have gotten in there if I wasn't a triple Light."

Asha glared at him.

She remembered that humiliating day well, as clear as yesterday, that day she saw all her hard work crumble to dust before her young and naive eyes. All of that simply because she wasn't blessed enough by the Gods to reach her ambitions. Because she wasn't as blessed as the man before her.

Her glare seemed to scare him. Good. That day made her feel pathetic whenever she remembered it, so he should feel pathetic with her. Also, he had yet to move away from the coffee machine, which meant that she wasn't getting her coffee any time soon.

So she just grabbed him and shoved him out of the way.

Or rather, she _tried_ to shove him, because he literally jumped out of the way when she got too close to him.

She stared weirdly at him. She had glared at him, sure, but her glare didn't prompt this kind of jumpy behavior. As a fighter, he should have seen scarier and uglier glares from scarier and uglier creatures. Why did he jump away like she was a legitimate - _obvious_ \- threat to him...?

Strange.

She then snapped out of the odd trance he had shoved her into with his weirdness.

She remembered she had no reason to talk to this weirdo. He was out of the way of her delicious, her _precious_ coffee.

She grabbed the hopefully still fuming cup and turned around to leave.

* * *

"Ran! It's been too long!"

The brown-haired young man turned to see the man he considered as a brother walk towards him with… children? on his toes. Two were boys, and the third was a girl who had a similar curly hair to him. They all seemed to be purebloods, the oldest one in his mid-teens while the younger brats looked around twelve.

He restrained the need to glomp Rao Leez and whistled.

"You sure have... worked a lot since last time I saw you!"

* * *

Teo couldn't restrain a very low groan.

"She's here _again."_ She raised her voice a little, less to be properly heard by her two companions and more to signify that she didn't mind them listening to her complaint. "Last time, I just had the… the flu. Yeah, the flu. These rules are just so unfair with Quarters and Halfs anyway! So what if we have a natural advantage, we're professionals or what-"

"Teo-ssi, you're making excuses," interrupted the man walking beside her.

"... I know."

The young woman sighed again, clutching her beloved sword. Weapons OR magic, it was so unfair that she had to choose! Not that she was any good at magic, but that meant she couldn't give in her whole. All magic, even silent magic and _transcendentals_ , was banned if she were to use a sword, and she'd be lying if she said she was very good bare handed. So, in the tournament, she could only rely on her sword skills, when this wretched witch of a woman could use both her fists and magic however she pleased. The worst was that she didn't _need_ a weapon half the time. That cocky cockroach, though...

Really, the only luck she ever had was to find Elwin and Gandharva.

* * *

Mirha was waiting for her older brother when she saw him.

Rao Leez, her _savior_ , back on Carte. He was standing nearby, surrounded by teenagers and tweens. Or _was_ surrounded with them, since two of them had just waved the others away, and he was left standing with a teenager that had a braid and a curly-haired girl.

Seeing that this time was suitable as any, Mirha called for him. "Rao-oppa!"

Rao turned around, happily greeting her. "Who- Why hello there, Mirha, what brings the Priest of Wind all the way from Aeroplateau to here? Is your brother finally joining a tournament?"

"Yes, he is!" Mirha replied, just as happy as him.

Rao then turned to his companions. "Should I introduce you to each other?" He asked, and proceeded to do so, "Leez, Ran, this is Mirha Simon, the Priest of Wind. Her talent in Wind magic is unparalleled on this planet. Mirha, this my daughter, Bera, and my friend Ran Sairofe."

"Nice to meet you," Mirha said politely.

After everyone replied "Nice to meet you too" in a sing-songy voice, Rao left to buy them all ice cream parfaits, leaving the boy and the two girls alone with each other.

"I don't mind you calling me Leez, though." Chirped the youngest of the trio.

"Why? " Mirha asked Leez curiously.

"I wanted to have the last name of my mom," Leez said cheerfully, " so I ask that people call me "Bera Leez-Haias" but they say it's too long… So it ended with the middle part. "

"Really? That's nice!" Mirha replied. She could tell that she would like Leez quite a bit.

* * *

"Do we _really_ have to be near this crowd…?" Sagara grumbled to no one in particular.

She hated crowding with so many people. She wouldn't be doing that if she didn't have something important to do. Something she had to bring Cloche and Clophe with her to do.

 **[How about we go there?]** Cloche said, pointing at a slightly less crowded part of the Fighter Guild. **[There aren't much people there now, so we can hurry and buy some warm milk for us.]**

"Wait." said Sagara.

"There is something… dangerous in that place. Let's wait and go there another time."

Sagara felt a weird chill in the air coming from that direction; the kind she'd rather like to avoid.

Cloche and Clophe looked at each other, then followed the orders of their King.

* * *

Rao Leez was a happy man.

And why wouldn't he be? He had a beautiful wife, two darling daughters, and two fine boys he fostered. That's not even mentioning the friends he knew, like the boy (no, not a boy anymore- time flies fast) he considered a brother-

"Welcome back, Rao-oppa!"

-and the girl that called for him right that instant.

He was happy to see that she and Leez were getting along well. After handing them the parfaits he brought them, he said, "Eat as much as you want, kids, I got these for free."

"Eh? How?" Asked Leez.

"The vendor woman fainted when she saw me," he replied on a conversational tone, "and I had to reanimate her. She refused to take any money for the parfait afterwards."

"...Gods, Dad," Leez said, teasingly, "you can't keep going on charming women like that. Should I mention what happened to Mom…?"

Rao sweated slightly, only slightly, remembering Anna's skill as a fighter, and said, "N-no, your mom doesn't need to know this… say, where is Ran?"

"He went to see my brother and Leez's sister," said Mirha, "turns out, both of their love of coffee is a little… over the top?"

"He felt a bit weird talking with us, so he went to find them because our siblings are as old as him." Leez chimed in.

"Well…" Said Rao, "I guess we should go to them, then. I don't think Ran can handle Asha when she's going for her coffee…"

Rao turned and marched to the direction of the coffee machine, thus missing Mirha's flinch when she heard the name "Asha".


	2. Chapter 2

**Aaand Here is chapter two~**

 **You may find things don't add up. If you do, tell us. This was originally done on a whim, so we'd like to fix inconsistencies.**

 **...and figure out how much of the plot you find out~**

...Is there such a thing as a plot though? STAY TUNED!

* * *

Ran found two figures in front of the coffee machine.

The first one was a pretty, fuchsia-haired young lady, whom he guessed to be Asha, Leez's sister. She was pouring steaming coffee into a cup in her hand, looking vaguely uncomfortable with her surroundings.

The second one was moving away from the coffee machine, seeming to be in a dark mood. He was a blue-haired handsome guy, and it wasn't hard to guess that this was Mirha's brother, Saha.

Ran called out to them, saying "Oi! Asha Leez and Saha Simon?"

They both turned to look at him in perfect sync. They were the right people, just like he guessed.

"My name is Ran Sairofe, and I'm a good friend of Rao." Ran introduced himself, chugging down any timidity. "I met your sisters and him, err, just now, actually. I wanted to meet you two as well, so… here I am!"

The blue-haired teen just sipped his coffee, while Asha blinked and said, "Our sisters told you where we were?"

"Yeah!" Ran answered. "Mirha and Leez told me. They're getting along pretty well, I have to say." He paused. "Though Mirha was walking a bit funny when I left them…"

"She was?" The fuchsia-haired teen said, alarmed.

"Yeah," Ran said, then turned to the bluenette, "she didn't seem to notice, but I think you should go check her later, in case there's something…"

The boy put down the coffee cup he finished and asked, "And… why am I the one who should check on her?"

Ran couldn't believe the ridiculous question. "Who else would?!" Ran exclaimed. "Aren't you her older brother? There's only one guy in front of me, and it's obvious who he is."

The fuchsia-haired girl choked on her coffee.

"...I should see her because I am her older brother, Saha," the blue-haired teen said in a matter-of-fact tone, then gestured toward the girl who had stopped coughing and was trying to breath again. "and she's Bera Leez's older sister, Asha."

"Well, duh," Ran said, "you might look good, but you're way too manly to be mistaken as her."

"Asha" started coughing again, but this time for no reason the braid-boy could notice.

"If you keep coughing that hard," advised "Saha" in his driest tone, "then perhaps we should bring you some cough syrup before anything else."

Asha stopped coughing in a few seconds before straightening up, indicating that she was the shortest of them. Ran noticed that Saha was about an inch taller than her, when they stood next to each other, and he was taller than them both, despite being physically the youngest.

He was thirty-three, actually. Asha should be around sixteen and Saha thirty-seven, looking eighteen.

They both looked quite funny, now that he thought about it. "Asha" was short, pretty, and flat as a board, with green eyes contrasting furiously with the fuschia hair she had tied in a ponytail. If he didn't know better, he would think her to be a Quarter. She didn't look as young as sixteen, either.

"Saha", on the contrary, was taller and sported wildly cut light blue hair. He had that constant passive, almost-frowning look to him, and Ran realized his eyes matched his hair. It wasn't very common for a Quarter, either. He didn't even look as old as eighteen, as his face had retained some childish roundness. Heck if he hadn't known the genders beforehand, he could've taken him for the pureblood one.

In any case, they both seemed to love coffee.

Ran also noticed that Asha was somewhat nervous, with a peculiar look in her eyes. It reminded him of a hunted rabbit. Saha was more of a disinterested hawk.

He supposed that he should start up a conversation, to make Asha loosen up a little.

* * *

If Asha hadn't held a warm, _precious_ cup in her left hand, she would have slapped her forehead.

Unfortunately, it wasn't an option. Listening to this… muscular idiot's "babble" was so irritating it was… Asha didn't find a comparison, wondering how her father could possibly get along with him.

Mistaking them for each other? Really?

In any case "Saha" seemed to think it was funny, as he had almost choked on his coffee, badly disguising his uneasy chuckles as coughing.

Asha discretely observed the feminine boy, giving minimal attention to the braid-wearing dolt.

They had gotten off a bad start, but he also seemed to love coffee, if the way he had held his cup as if it was his firstborn child was of any indication. Maybe he would do.

Asha replayed Rao's stern "advice" -snort- in her head, forcing her facial muscles to remain an impassive mask.

" _Make. Friends. Or at least_ _ **try**_ _. The only people you talk to are your family, that's not healthy."_

Asha could agree with this statement to some extent. If she was honest with herself, she would easily admit she wanted like to hold interesting conversations. She wouldn't be so "difficult" if there were less stupid people in this planet, no, this universe. Unfortunately it wasn't the case.

What he had said was true though, and she could agree somewhat, easy enough.

But menace..?

" _This is the perfect occasion. If I don't see you making at least one friend, at the very_ _ **least**_ _, before the tournament starts… I'll disqualify you. You have a week."_

Tch.

He thought it was easy? He and Leez were social people. She wasn't. She didn't think talking to people just for the sake of it was worth lowering herself to their level. How hard to understand was that?

How could he not see that talking to random dumb people was not rewarding, but boring punishment?

And the prime example for that was standing right in front of her, not even noticing that she was barely listening. Even Saha looked uncomfortable- although maybe not for the same reason. She wondered whether that Ran Sairofe was a fighter. Probably.

She also wondered whether she'd be able to stomp him into the ground for his offense during the tournament.

Or better yet? Embarrass him for all of eternity, since he would inevitably learn their true genders.

And thus she said, "And you're right, I am too manly to be a girl. Absolutely."

She glanced at Saha, who threw her a disbelieving look. She tried to discretely nudge him, and even though he moved away from her side the moment she moved her hands towards him - _again-_ he seemed to understand what she wanted to do, and said, "What he said. Just like I'm too girly to be a guy. I'm so feminine, I can win a beauty contest with no makeup on!"

The hilarious thing is that she _could_ , in fact, see him win a beauty contest, which is why her shoulders were starting to shake from contained laughter.

What a beautiful start to a friendship this was, Rao would say.

Heh. He even managed to make her - _her_ \- laugh! He was perfect.

Well.

Really, if he wasn't Mirha's brother, _everything_ would be perfect. 

* * *

Rao found the coffee machine, with a parfait for Ran in hand, to see the boy cheerfully chatting with Asha... and someone he supposed to be Saha. Both of their shoulders were shaking.

Curious and, honestly speaking slightly worried, he asked "Are you alright, Asha?" as soon as he reached talking range.

"He's calling you, Asha," said a smirking Asha before a bewildered Rao, "who might this man be?"

"You know very well, Saha," Saha said, his mouth twitching in the tiniest way although he tried to keep a straight face, "that this is my dear father, Rao. Introduce yourself to him, please."

"Hello, ." Asha said. "I am Saha Simon, Mirha's older brother. It is a pleasure to meet you here, with your daughter Asha."

"Hey Hyung," Ran said, "just met up with Saha and Asha. Asha surely looks pretty enough to deserve the family name Leez."

Saha and Asha's shoulders resumed trembling, slightly harder than before.

Rao sighed.

 _Teenagers._

"First of all, Ran," Rao said, "here is your parfait."

Ran took it with a small "thanks", and Rao went on saying, "Secondly, can you go please bring Mirha and Leez here? I'll stay and chat with Asha and Saha for a bit."

"Sure."

Ran turned to go, then said, bless his baby monkey soul, "Do I bring some coats with me? Those two have been shaking for a while."

"No, no," said Rao, "just bring the girls and come back. Take your time."

After Ran went on his merry way, Rao turned to the two who now wore wide, innocent, _identical_ smiles on their faces and lost all desire to stop them.

Instead, he said "When exactly do you think he will…?"

"After half a season, probably," Saha snorted.

"No, after a week." Asha said. "He is a family friend, right? He'll find out soon… in a week or so."

Rao wondered what exactly was going through his daughter's head. Getting along with someone from the get-go? There had to be some kind of miracle involved. In any case he'd help this new friendship blossom… Who knows, maybe these two would end up closer than friends? Saha seemed to be a fine boy-

The plotting father thus completely missed the occasional wary glances the fuchsia-haired boy threw his daughter, bless his adult monkey soul. 

* * *

Saha felt about to go completely hysteric.

The horrible images seemed so vivid earlier, but they were absurd. Suspiciously peering at the coffee-stealer, he didn't see anything strange about her, apart from a now-fading slightly (?) dark mood, if the ghost of a smile on her lips was anything to go by.

She really liked the bitter mixture. Could someone with tastes so close to his truly be evil?

He tried to pretend that everything was fine. Played along with her prank and smiled. Sipped his coffee and touched heaven with the tip of his lukewarm fingers.

But… Something was… off...

He had the strange feeling… that she wasn't how she should be?

 _The Asha I know wouldn't be so bold._

But that didn't make sense.

He had never met Asha before. 

* * *

Sagara was running after her target.

Or rather, not running, for the Fighter Guild's arena was filled to the brim with people, and she did not want to hit and probably kill someone while she was running and bring attention to herself; but walking fast. The tournament would be held in this arena, but for now, they allowed pretty much anyone in.

So she walked and walked and walked, and she would've almost reached her target- seriously, there was only 10 steps left...

...until the target turned sharply to the left, and went right to a wide crowd of people, disappearing in it seamlessly.

She almost screamed in frustration. She internally cursed _that damn person_ , and vowed, as Cloche caught up with her, to hunt her target down no matter what.

It was only then that she noticed they had lost Clophe in their hurried chase. 

* * *

Gandharva watched Teo and Elwin pant, hiding behind a wall, with some amusement.

The Quarter was swearing under her breath and the Half child seemed to think they were playing Hide and Seek. Which, if it was slightly inaccurate, wasn't entirely false.

The woman and her goons were close behind them, but a sharp turn and ducking into a crowd sufficed to lose her. Teo hadn't been convinced, however, and that was why she was crouching behind one of the pillars in the Fighter Guild.

It reminded him of the fateful day he met the pair. 

* * *

If he was honest with himself, he had spent most of his time in the water channels moping.

Walking and roaming around, stuck in a daze after losing everything he had. He had lost his Clan... His friends... And he likely lost his dau-

No! He hadn't lost her!

He gave her to Makara for protection… surely, his second in command pulled through this like he did; Urvasi didn't make it, but he was lower than Makara… yes, Urvasi didn't survive because he was unlucky, not because the Taraka sura were too strong. Makara and Shakuntala were fine and they would find him eventually. Or he would find them first. Probably.

His mind had played these thoughts on repeat for longer than he had bothered to remember.

The hallowed corridors of ice were empty of life other than his own. He didn't know why -or how- Taraka had imprisoned him here. Heck he wasn't even sure it had been her. But who else could or would have, anyway?

He had tried getting out, but there was no discernible end to this maze. She _had_ created openings when he flooded the channels, back when he had first arrived there, but back then he had been more about venting his anger and less about escaping.

But why was he alone? The Taraka sura couldn't have eaten _everything_ in there!

The fact remained, however, that these channels, whatever planet they were initially linked to, would be completely empty if it wasn't for him, and had no apparent exit.

He didn't know how long he had spent there. The monotone days of walking and sleeping and thinking about the same thing repeated themselves in a constant, never-ending cycle. Was that his punishment for declining to help Ananta, the one who should have had no end?

It sure looked like it.

Smashing the translucent walls did nothing. After something like a month of trying whatever he could to escape, and failing, he had decided to rest until his vigor was full again.

Which could take several years, mind you, but the environment was optimal for his species, and he didn't have to use any transcendental at all in his immaculate prison.

Once he would be recovered to his rightful strength as a King, maybe he would be able to escape.

So he had waited, slept, remembered, and lived.

He had remembered Menaka, Urvasi, and all of those he knew who had left him behind.

He had thought about his daughter, of his idiot chicken of a surrogate son, of Makara and all those he hoped lived, and what he would tell them when he would see them again.

Things he liked and disliked about them. He found absolutely nothing in the second category for his beloved daughter.

Things that he missed, their shenanigans and quirks. Maruna's screams and Shakuntala's sweet voice. Flower necklaces. Red feathers in his food and beating up the culprit.

One day he played a game with himself, and started to imagine how life would be like if he was alone with one of them.

It went on for a while. Life with Shakuntala, he found, was calm and optimist. They would get out of this, they were family, and everything would be fine.

But it wasn't true.

Life with Maruna was noisy. The birdbrain would try to bomb the walls until he couldn't move, probably. What was that idiot supposed to eat when they were alone with each other?

But it wasn't true.

Life with Makara… was so boring he hadn't bothered thinking about it for a very long time.

Because none of it was true, anyway.

It seemed to him that a hundred years or more had passed, but he had literally no way to be sure- marking the walls held its fair share of uncertainty, as there was no sun to help him tell day and night apart. He hadn't had the idea immediately, either.

In any case, if he had been human, that is a human who wouldn't have gone insane from loneliness or died of hunger or cold, he would have sported quite the long beard when the channels opened again.

In the beginning, he didn't find anything unusual, except a breeze. At this point, however… He couldn't bring himself to care enough to realize this was unusual.

That was how Teo and Elwin, apparently on a holiday in Willarv's water channels at the time, had found him. Sprawled on a rock and whispering to himself, eyes closed to imagine he was somewhere else.

The instant he had sensed a movement, however, he had tensed, refusing to cede to the urge to jump on his feet. He had slowly opened his eyes and straightened on his makeshift throne.

Like the day at the tournament, Teo and Elwin had been crouching behind a pillar of ice, warily asserting the level of threat he represented.

Needless to say, he was glomping them, crying and laughing, in under a second.

After a few explanations and brushed off apologies -he couldn't care less about stab wounds at the moment- they knew the essentials.

He hadn't even thought of lying to the first living beings to visit in far, far, _far_ too long.

Teo had apparently thought this wasn't a very good idea, though. She hadn't dared refuse to lead him to the exit- you can hardly refuse something so little to a crying man who had been locked up for years, especially one that could probably kill you with a flip of his fingers- but asked him, if he were to remain in human company, to conceal his identity.

He had accepted gladly. Oh, and he was probably going to stick to water and energy rays to attack for a while. Enough with ice.

He had considered heading to the ocean, but… It honestly held no appeal to him at the moment. The young woman who had rescued him, Teo, and her daughter, Elwin, deserved to be thanked somehow.

Also, they were people. He hadn't seen people for a while. He didn't care, human or Half or whatever, they were people he could talk to. That was cool. That was enough.

Teo suggested bringing him to a doctor. Or a psychologist. He declined, but agreed to follow her in the city to "talk to professional people", whatever that meant.

He also modified his appearance to its most human setting, covering the unchangeable eye with an eyepatch. Teo sponsored him as a Half in the towns they remained in on the way to Kalibloom, and in the city itself, Teo let him stay in her house, although he didn't really need it. She _did_ try to get him to a psychologist, but a little private show of partial transformation achieved to convince her that he wasn't completely insane. At least not enough to be confused on his own identity.

Oh, and since he couldn't use his real name, they had to find an alternative. He randomly went for her first suggestion, not really minding the name itself.

She had been reluctant somewhat. He didn't know why, Gandalf sounded fine to him.

So he remained with Teo, waiting for the optimum opportunity to repay her kindness.

He also thought he might find his daughter while waiting for that chance. Teo found a _Nastika King_ while on a vacation trip, in a stroke of luck; she might be able to find the Nastika's daughter in another stroke of luck. Who knew!

Besides, until then he wouldn't be alone.

At least for a while.

He had spent around a year with her by now, waiting for an opportunity, and waiting for his daughter. Learning more about her, and her daughter, and them learning more about him. She told him about human things like books and fencing and cooking (he easily became better than her at that last discipline).

He spoke to them, on quiet evenings, of the perplexing cold that wasn't cold in outer space; the spicy taste of stars; the glittering beauty of suns emerging from behind a gaseous planet, refracting and diffracting in their prismatic atmospheres... He tried to voice the heaviness of the deep's obscure waters, the peculiarly soothing gloom of abysmal depths they could never reach.

He didn't know if he succeeded.

If he was honest with himself, after forced isolation made him reconsider the preciousness of company, he was quite content.

...he simply hoped his waiting, this time, wouldn't be in vain like his trust in Visnu had been. 

* * *

**Yes, the baby monkey did it again and no, we're not sorry.**

 **We did it because we could. Deal with it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well this took a while xD**

 **Thanks to tierra for nitpicking.**

 **I don't really have anything funny to say this chapter... sorry about that. Exams do that to you.**

* * *

Airi looked at her diary and sighed.

Her brother was the no.1 magician in all of Willarv. Thus, he was supposed to be saddled with responsibilities, unable to leave his post at Rindhallow to roam around as he pleases. Yet here he was, telling her that he will be seeing her in the tournament, which means that he would slack off his job and make Laila angry at him, again.

She imagined Laila's wrath would be a hundred times worse if her brother didn't have that ridiculously efficient assistant of his.

Closing the diary, she made her way to the tournament registration post. She was about to mingle with the cluster of people that were there when she saw a lost kid.

Maybe he wasn't so much of a kid, though. He had claws for hands, and his pupils were slit, singling him out as a Half. But despite how older than her he likely was, he still looked so very young and lost in the big crowd that she had to go help him.

"Hey, are you looking for someone?" asked Airi softly, trying to be reassuring despite looking ten years older than him.

The boy freezed. He stared at Airi with barely concealed apprehension, then slowly nodded.

"What do they look like? What are their names?" Airi went on.

The boy stared at her blankly. He stayed still for a moment, before he pointed at his throat and opened his mouth soundlessly, like a fish on dry sand.

It took a few seconds before she realized the problem and brought out a pen and a notebook.

Sura do not possess vocal cords. This was common knowledge; it was also common knowledge that this lack of this organ could be passed on to a Half as a residual sura trait. As many as one in a thousand Half seemed to be born with this defect.

 _Poor kid._

The boy wrote, in a quite messy manner due to his claws, "I'm looking for my younger sister and a short person."

Those were all the descriptions he gave, and Airi felt slightly annoyed at that. Did he honestly think such a description was enough to-

And then she saw them. A young girl, who seemed like a Half, and a short person.

 _Huh. I guess it really was enough, after all._

And so she began the chase.

* * *

"Hey dad! Hey everyone!" Leez said as she, Mirha and Ran caught up to the other group.

Her dad was standing with Asha and a guy she assumed to be Saha. She could've easily mistaken Saha as a girl, but living with Asha made her more aware of these things.

The moment Leez greeted them, Saha immediately went to Mirha. The fuchsia-haired boy knelt in front of her, eyeing her legs carefully, while Asha disinterestedly turned away from them.

"Ran said that your legs were shaking earlier," Saha sternly said, concerned, "they are just prototypes, you know; if you feel _anything_ is wrong-"

"I'm fine." Mirha said, deflecting his concern. "The only thing that happened was that I got a new friend."

"..hey, why are you ignoring your sister?" Leez heard Ran say to Asha. "Isn't it shameful that Asha is the one who asked about her health? What kind of brother blatantly ignores his sister?!"

Mirha and Leez's first reactions to the statement was confusion, so they looked at the monkey dad, who winked.

Leez's second reaction, when comprehension dawned on her, was to bite the inside of her cheeks to stop the roaring rampage of a laugh that would give away the prank. How did they even…?

 _Who?_ She mouthed to her dad.

He made a fainting face and pointed to Asha.

To Asha.

To Asha.

Asha.

Asha.

Asha.

Error. Error. Please reboot the Leez.

 _Asha made a joke?_

 _A joke that involves cooperating with another person?!_

Leez wondered if her dad was doing a prank on her instead, and stared at him. When he nodded again, meaning that yes, Asha really did make a prank with another person, she discreetly walked over to him, curious to know the whole story.

Meanwhile, Mirha looked incredulously at her brother, trying to understand what was happening, right as Saha stood up and said, "Uh, Ran, you shouldn't say things like these to Saha; I'm sure he's trying his best to be a good brother-"

"You don't have to be nice to him, Asha." Ran snorted. "From what I see, you'd make for a better sibling for Mirha than Saha ever could."

The real Asha meanwhile, was ignoring the whole conversation, apparently counting the clouds. Or seeing as she was mouthing something, calculating their volume or the speed of the wind.

The Simon siblings both opened their mouths and closed them multiple times, trying to gather their words. Leez started to feel that the conversation was slowly veering into an unpleasant direction...

"Would you like to go with us to the city's meat buffet?" Said Rao, who also started to feel uneasy, in an attempt to defuse the rising tension.

Everyone turned around to blankly look at him.

"Oh yeah, we were going to that buffet, sometime!" Leez said, trying to help. "They say that it will have tons of food and all types of meat. Mirha, would you and Saha like to go to it with us?"

"I...would like so, yes." Mirha said, and turned to Saha. "Would you please go with us too…?"

 _And explain what exactly is going on._

Leez could read their gestures, understanding the unspoken words, and Saha nodded. "Of course I will be going with everyone; I did enough paperwork to afford doing that." Saha said, and then he turned to Asha. "Would you join us too, Saha?"

Asha shrugged. "...I don't have anything else to do." She conceded. "I will come."

"Perfect!" Rao said. "Now please, Ran lead us there."

"Ah… sure." Ran said.

And so the whole group headed to Mistyshore's famous meat buffet.

Mirha discretely took Saha aside, and finally got to hear what her brother and Asha had done. 

* * *

Realizing that her usually mild-mannered brother actually participated in such a prank was shocking in itself, and hearing that Asha was his partner in crime made her speechless.

She had known Asha as a child. She knew how Asha barely talked with anyone, and remembered how she had to be her medium for any social interaction to happen. Her pranking someone else without someone physically forcing her to… If anyone had told her before the act, she would have laughed at them and recommended a trip to the nearest asylum.

Mirha was unsure on whether she liked the changes or not.

She wasn't sure what she should think of her new friend, a pureblood years her junior who, apparently, managed to break Asha out of her shell somehow.

How? Mirha had been Asha's sister before, but never… She never changed. Asha had never changed for Mirha. Always treated her with empty smiles and awkwardly disguised contempt.

Yet, thanks to her new pureblood family, Asha had changed a lot, it seemed.

Was it just that? People with similar lifespans to take care of her? No, it would never be that simple.

Asha was a mystery. A cold mystery she couldn't dare reach…

"Are you all right?" Saha asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, I told you already," she answered, mentally slapping herself for sounding harsher that she had meant, "I'm all right, and I promise I will tell you about any pain with my legs-"

"I don't mean that." He hushed, mindful of Ran's keen ears. "Asha ignored you when we were together, but I saw how you were looking at her. Was there anything between you before…?"

"It's nothing you should worry about."

"Don't tell me that, Mir. I know you have this habit of keeping everything that upsets you to yourself, bottling everything inside-"

"-as if you yourself didn't have the same habit-"

"-but the truth is, I'm your older brother, and we did have a similar conversation before. It took me so long to pry what upset you at the time, and I hope I don't have to do that again."

Mirha stayed silent for a moment. Saha had a tunnel-vision when he was determined to do something, or learn something, so there was no use for trying to escape.

"...I do remember the conversation we had then. There is no point in repeating it."

It was about a younger sister she once had, who didn't like _-hated-_ how she tried to smile through the hardships they faced. About how she always closed herself off, despite everything Mirha did to open her up.

"That younger sister's name was Asha Rahiro, and we lived together after the Cataclysm," Mirha said, with a smile like shattered glass, "but I was never able to soften her up enough to joke around like this."

Silence stretched between them for a while.

"...Oh, Mirha…" Saha said. "Listen, it wasn't you-"

"It's been years since then," Mirha said, "and I made peace with the fact that I'll never be able to make her like me. I wasn't even sure that she was still _alive_ , before, but now... I see her... joking around with her new family-"

Mirha tried to stop her voice from failing, tried not to cry-

Saha pulled her into a hug. They had fallen behind, but he didn't seem to care.

"Nothing was wrong with you because she didn't like you. Sure, she didn't, but I do. Father likes you, too. Different people like different things. And that doesn't mean any of these things is wrong. Well, unless you like cold-blooded murder, but that's a different thing altogether..."

Mirha wasn't sure the last sentence was for her, since he had murmured it quietly, but she still smiled at the joke. She wiped some tears that had begun to gather in her eyes, while Saha waited for her to compose herself.

"They are getting far ahead of us," he said, "are you ready to go follow them, now?"

"Yeah…" Mirha replied, her voice as calm as it usually was. "And by the way, the moment Ran finds out about your prank, make him apologize for saying you're a bad brother. You're a good brother, even if you're a bit too stubborn for your own good, sometimes."

Saha just chuckled and rolled his eyes, while she ran ahead and caught up with Rao and Leez in no time. 

* * *

"I can't even believe we lost him," complained a disheveled blue-head. "He runs faster than this, usually…"

[I'm so sorry, Sagara-nim. I should have realized it earlier…]

The short girl sighed and waved it off. "Don't beat yourself over it, Cloche. It's also my fault for bolting after our target like that… That person is way too lucky to my taste."

They stood near to the registration desk. The fighters who wanted to participate were impatiently standing in line, some of chatting with each other, others sulking passively or...less so.

Sagara barely avoided an unidentified flying person. It wasn't the target or Clophe, so it didn't matter.

"Why is everyone here so excited to sign in this tournament?" Sagara muttered to herself, not noticing the presence of the keen-eared Halfs round her.

"Didn't you hear?" One of the Halfs proceeded to tell her. "The new generation of fighters is already here! Rao Leez won't participate this year; he said he would only be the commentator of the event, to leave a chance for new champions to rise."

"I heard that the true reason he's leaving is that his daughters are joining this year, and he wants them to make their own debut." Said another Half.

"His daughter _s_? Isn't the youngest one just twelve, though?"

"Yeah… apparently, she's strong enough for her father to think that this tournament would be a warm-up for her."

"The eldest is no small fry either. Strikes precise like a surgeon's knife. Smarter than most adults, as I've heard- she leads you into your own grave without you noticing, and you fall in the trap before you've realized what's happening. If only she had triple attributes... I bet she could've taken Claude's spot easily. And they're all purebloods."

"...I'm scared of this family..."

[Sagara-nim, wouldn't our target be present in this tournament?] Cloche asked. [We can wait until it starts, and then that person will probably show up with no need for searching at all.]

Sagara considered Cloche's words. She agreed with her; the target would probably appear soon enough. In any case, they wouldn't _leave_ because of the tournament.

They would have to change the focus of their search to Clophe now, who was in more immediate danger. 

* * *

No one expected a flying object to fall from the sky. Not even the object itself expected to fall from the sky- or rather, the object _himself_ , because the young hybrid was certainly a male. Even if he slightly resembled his mother with his black hair and facial structure.

This resemblance would be invisible at the moment, anyway, because he was in sura form, flying daringly low above the trees and trying to escape from any urban eye that might've seen him.

Once that he would be far enough from the city, he would fly higher and toward the mountains, and no one would he realize that he was even there-

Or so he thought, before a tree flew right into him.

It wasn't he who had made a wrong maneuver and collided with wooden inhabitants, no; a tree was _thrown right at him_.

Ouch.

The impact made him lose balance and that was why he was crashing in a very undignified way into the aforementioned forest. After he "landed", (good thing neither of his siblings had seen him, or he would have never lived it down) he took a moment to shake out the disorientation following the impact.

What would even throw a _tree_ at him…? Heck, what _could_ throw a tree at him?

He got rid of the tree lying on him -ouch- and quickly hid between the forest trees, happy that they were tall enough for him to hide behind. What could have..? Surely not an angry Rakshasa or a Nastika, right? He hadn't eaten anyone stronger than a Mara since coming here, and there was no way that people would already be angry at him...

"OYYY!"

Detecting footsteps coming, he turned around to look at the brute force that threw that tree, pretending to not have heard it come toward him... and found that a very green-haired, very little girl.

He would have undoubtedly dismissed her from the list of possible culprits if not for the massive tree she was carrying as a makeshift bat.

If he tried to fly when she's still close to him, she would undoubtedly throw a tree at him again. If he tried to walk away, she would find his whereabouts and the same result will happen. After thinking about it, he decided to shift into his human form and walk by her until he can get far enough to fly.

He shifted, and the rustle sound his shifting made had the girl coming right to him.

"Ah, hello," she said once she reached him, "Sorry, did I scare you?"

Seeing that he wasn't answering, she continued. "Haven't you seen a weird sura around here? I could've sworn that tree hit it…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Fiouuu, this took a while! I had exams, though.**  
 **I'm taking the IGCSE... At least it's writing. And the subjects were fun, yeah.**  
 **Is Ravana the Willarv equivalent to a honey bee?**

 **In any case, enjoy! Not much from our mains this chapter... But more plot.**

* * *

Leez thought that this tournament was pretty awesome. It hadn't even begun yet, but she had gained two friends already- Mirha and the mute Half kid she found in the forest.

She would give him a pen and a notebook once she reached civilization again, if only because writing on the ground seemed like a bother for him. She would also decide on a name for him, because he said his name was a secret, and her name was a secret too, so she could sympathize. She thought hard about an appropriate one. She hadn't met anyone asking her to name them before, and that seemed like a supremely important task.

She wanted to give him a good and fitting name, not just any boring common name anyone could easily come up with.

Well, anyone but Asha, because Asha's sense in naming is...unique. 

* * *

"But I want to go to school!" said the eight-year-old Kubera Leez. "You're back, now!"

Rao rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "I told you, Kubera," he said, "your name is too special for you to do this now. You'll have to wait eight more years till you can go out."

"But Kaz is teasing me about not going to school!" Kubera complained. "I promise I'll work hard!"

Her voice lowered and she added sulkily, "He says that I will become dumber than everyone else if I don't."

"Well, he's not wrong…"

Kubera turned to the speaker. Twelve-years-old Asha was standing there, clutching a book against her chest. Her hair barely reached her shoulders back then, and she wasn't showing any readable expression.

"Don't say that, Asha… that's really mean."

Asha looked blankly at Rao. "It's the truth, though. But I think you're both kind of dumb. What if she's named Kubera? How does it make going to school _impossible?_ "

Leez remembered Rao looked uneasy at her words, and didn't answer.

"If she wants to go to school and work hard, what are you stopping her for? Aren't you her father?"

Leez had wondered why Asha had taken her defense. Up to this point, she had mainly ignored her new little sister. Well, she also had to learn the local language, so it wasn't that surprising she didn't talk much. After two years, however, her accent was barely discernible. Asha was amazing.

"There. If she can't change her name, we can just use a nickname."

Rao let out a bewildered "Uh?!" as the blue-haired girl lightly tapped the top of Kubera's head with her book.

"From now on, you're Bera Leez and no one will question that one."

She hadn't cried when she realize what that meant. She hadn't. Nope.

She was going to go to school. She was going to go to school. She. Was. Going. To. Go. To. School.

...thanks to the meanie Asha. Maybe she wasn't that bad, she had thought. Maybe she's just shy like dad said.

...Bera was such a weird name though. 

* * *

Leez truly pitied any nephews and nieces she might be getting, if Asha was the one who would name them.

Speaking of nephews and nieces, she wondered how the situation went after she left the two gender-confusing coffee-lovers with her father, since he shooed her and Mirha to do some scheming of his own. She hung around with Mirha for a while, before Mirha's assistant found them and took Mirha for something priest-y or whatever, leaving her alone to do what she wanted to. Like practicing in the woods.

What was he even thinking of, that father of hers? 

* * *

Rao Leez observed the two potential love birds, gathering info about them.

Other than their mutual love of coffee, they both had a quiet demeanor and an apparently great intelligence.

The last one he now knew because, after Ran learned Saha was a triple Surya and asked Asha why the rays of _bhavati surya_ look like arcs, Saha tried his best to verbally explain how the light was, in fact, traveling in a straight line, as Asha tried doing the same using mathematical equations. Rao wasn't sure why, but some part of him felt that Saha was used to teaching such things…

After a certain point, the conversation became less of an explanation to Ran, and more of a debate between the two geniuses about the paradox this caused. They became so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't notice Ran retreating toward Asha's father.

"...They could've just said it was magic," Ran muttered, "it literally _is_ magic…"

Rao chuckled. "Both of them are too serious about this," he sighed with amusement.

He patted the baby monkey's head. "Don't worry too much about it, Ran. Rather, you should be proud of yourself: This is the longest conversation I've seen… Saha… hold in a while."

"Hmm?" The younger boy looked surprised at these words. "So you knew Saha from before the tournament?"

Rao uneasily swallowed and shrugged it off with an evasive "Somewhat."

Rao _had_ heard about Saha; from Mirha earlier that day, from fighters who were situated in Aeroplateau and praised their Guild President's skills... although he had only just met the young man today. And he personally thought…

Well.

His instincts told him that Saha was a good person. Oh, he was certainly dangerous; there was a intelligence in both his words and his actions that reminded him of how still waters run deep. He could see the resemblance between him and Mirha, in this point. And like Mirha, he seemed to be using his slyness and gifts for good, not for evil.

Rao also noticed the furtive glances he shot to Asha's direction. The way they were filled with nervousness, and the way he jumped when she approached him…

Rao realized the truth… Of course! How could he not see it before?

Saha had a crush on Asha.

It was so obvious! Why else would such a quiet boy go along with a prank?

...Asha probably took a liking to him as well. There was no way she'd go along with it, either, otherwise…

Rao harrumphed. It was his duty, as a father, to see this love bloom!

...which seemed to be a challenging task, as both of them had yet to tire from their argument.

"Can't you just, I don't know, bout it out it out or something?" Ran suddenly yelled out of the blue, startling Rao.

They _did_ stop arguing. Perfectly synchronized, they whipped their heads towards him. Asha looked at him with a raised eyebrow while Saha just seemed surprised.

Rao, on the other hand, squinted his eyes at him. "Why should they physically fight it out…?" He asked, wondering why the young man suggested such a thing... that could ruin the matchmaking plan.

Slurping what remained of his parfait, Ran said, "Because they're either both right or both wrong seeing that they've been at it for half an hour?"

Silence.

Silence as they considered the words of rare monkey wisdom.

"Well… Why not?" he tried again. "It's not like sparring will do you two any wrong a week before a fighter tournament." 

* * *

As Teo lost Gandharva and Elwin in the crowd, she thought, not for the first time, that she had an extremely bad luck.

Oh, she knew that she was lucky to be born despite her attributes, but still, wouldn't her train of thought be understandable when, for example, one meets a seemingly insane, extremely strong individual on one's rare vacation trips?

Good thing he hadn't minded her sword piercing his side. Really good thing. Not that he was actually hurt…

She still remembered the odd atmosphere in the water channels, the one that made her and Elwin curious. She remembered her first time meeting with Gandharva.

How when she had asked about how long he had spent there, he had said that he honestly hadn't cared to count anymore after a "while".

Teo had seen the neatly lined up small scratches on the walls that had trapped him in. Teo had to redefine the word "while" when she saw how numerous they were.

If a scratch equaled a day, it seemed to her that he must have spent well over a millennium here… They scratches sprawled over walls upon walls, in messy columns stretching from the high translucent cellar until she couldn't see them anymore, wounding rows and corridors of glacial walls… And she was sure there were more she hadn't seen.

But that wasn't possible.

The Gandharva King had only disappeared in N5.

So, to a being who had lived millions, no, countless millions of years… Would the solitude of seven years feel that long...?

And thus she humored him, because she knew just how strong he actually was, and because she decided that if this Half spent so long in solitude that he started to think he was a Nastika King, then he obviously needed some help.

When she did finally try to talk to the misguided being about getting this help, he laughed and declined. It took some trickery to convince him to see a psychologist, but all that turned up was a knocked-out doctor and a slightly annoyed green-haired man.

She felt true terror run through her as he (privately) executed a partial transformation- something no Half could ever do, except maybe a dragon Half. She had honestly thought it was the eyepatch that rendered his dubious guise possible, something similar to Mr. Kasak's earrings, but now… Now…

She had let a Nastika inside the city. Uh-oh.

She allowed him to remain in the city, with her, not out of kindness... but to keep a watchful eye on him. She couldn't let him go back to the wild so easily; at least while he was with her, he didn't hurt or kill anyone.

He turned out to be good company, though. Not only helping her with cooking and with whatever else he could do, but he was also nice to Elwin whenever they went to visit her. He even took up to teaching her sura speech, although she was still having trouble with speaking as of now.

He was much, much nicer than she would expect of any King, much less a sura one. He wasn't disagreeable to look at, either, and she knew she was slowly growing attached to him.

He was no longer one of the Halfs she sponsored, or even an endearing, if slightly deranged, man to be looked after carefully. She opened her heart to him and, with the little hesitance born of forced solitude, he opened his to her. When he told her the stories she'd thought to be mere legends, each glimpse of his life she caught in his sorrowful eye made her heart ache in sympathy, and she too found herself mourning comrades she had never known. The Gandharva he described from within was a ruthless stranger similar to the feared King she'd heard about, and indeed her new companion admitted he had done terrible things; but the present Gandharva, the nice storyteller of old, the smiling man losing himself in ancient thoughts was another person entirely. Someone she could relate to. Someone who talked to her, smiled to her, made her heart flutter.

At the end of the day, she came to wonder what it was that made her mind and soul a human being's.

Most humans considered it was their capacity to feel empathy, or love, or sorrow, as opposed to the ruthless beasts they saw the sura as, and the mindless creatures they thought animals to be.

That was, by all means, wrong.

The more documented folks talked about biology, social norms, etc. They probably were more in the right, but she didn't see how it set her less apart from inhabitants of other human-inhabited planets on the other side of the galaxy, forever unreachable, than the Sura who spent his evening watching the stars with her and recalling -retelling- adventures he'd had while he visited them.

Thus, without noticing, she stopped regarding him as a being fundamentally different from herself, an aloof King too high for her to reach- and as she came to know his heart's memories, she wondered if he would dare look at the human at his feet.

Her musing were interrupted when she saw a familiar figure. Behind a pillar, the Priest of Death was talking with someone whom she recognized to be his assistant. They seemed engrossed in a serious conversation. She had never spoken with the black haired man, but she was relatively familiar with Claude, so she called out to him.

"Good day, Claude," Teo said as she approached them. "What brings you to the fighters' tournament? Shouldn't you be in Rindhallow?"

* * *

It had been two hours since Sagara had begun searching for Clophe, and she was starting to get tired of it. She started to really, really hate human architecture. With a passion.

Mistyshore's fighter guild wasn't even that complex. It was composed of a circular main building that was surrounded by a similarly circular frame of strikingly tall beige pillars, which were about fifteen meters tall. Both the pillars and the building supported a giant dome, which had been entirely painted white so it would deflect the sun rays and subsequent heat the city received during the hot season and create a pool of cool air in the shaded area underneath. The tournament was to be held in a plaza reserved for special events such as competitions and festivals, right in front of the domed construction. Solar panels shaded the whole area as well.

She was pissed.

However, Clophe was still lost, the target's location was unknown, and her goal as far out of her reach as it had always been. She couldn't even indulge herself in property destruction to vent her frustration.

She grit her teeth. Her goal might be deemed impossible by anyone else, but she would reach it. She couldn't afford not to; she couldn't afford never seeing Ananta ever again. It would kill her... The broken pieces of her heart would rot away in her chest until she disappeared into dust.

Her ability to retrieve Ananta depended solely on catching the target. For all intents and purposes, Ananta _was_ the target. They just had to free him back into his body, somehow.

But first of all, she had to calm down.

She breathed deeply. In and out, in and out; 'he' had said she had until the end of the tournament to find the target- after which he could vanish to who-knows-where. Right now, he was in this city, somewhere, of that she could be certain.

Precarious calm recovered, she examined her surroundings, thinking that she needn't be so tense-

-until she spotted Ananta talking with a taller boy whose back was facing her. This way of reacting with small gestures, the expressions of his face, the way he moved, the way he was… losing at rock-papers-scissors against his companion…

 _Oh, screw being calm!_

Without even turning to mention anything to Cloche she went straight for Ananta, jumping from the rooftop she had been standing on. She lost sight of him from her lower point of view, but hopefully, he wouldn't start moving until she reached him, and then they would finally gain some progress in this unending day-

She was there. Where she had last seen him. There was no mistake possible.

...he was gone. Again.

No, no, no. She felt herself start panicking. Why did she keep losing him? Why-

She repressed her wild thoughts and pressed on. He couldn't be that far away, right...? He had no reason to run. He must have continued onto wherever he was headed. She was almost there.

Five hundred years of painfully enduring his absence were finally coming to an end. He couldn't be far, he couldn't be far, she chanted this mantra in her head to reassure herself. There was no crowd to lose him into. He was there, just around the corner.

She was right.

He was standing there, laughing, and while she had been watching from far away when he was alive, she wouldn't just watch now that she had found him again.

She was never going to lose him again.

...which was why, when Cloche caught up to her, she was delightfully hugging "the target" in a death grip, having zero intentions of letting go at all. 

* * *

**I'll give a metaphorical cookie to whoever draws that last scene. Or maybe I'll do a short commission, if you give me a prompt.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Aaand here is chapter five~**

 **That sure took a while, but that's because we have other projects to work on.**

 **Also finals TwT**

 **Stay tuned nevertheless~**

 **Brace yourselves, the plot is coming~**

* * *

Normally, a guy's pride would be hurt if he failed to get rid of an extremely short and extremely clingy girl in order to, you know, breathe normally.

However, Kaz was raised with Kubera Leez. Leez could literally send him flying, and the only thing he matched her in was durability. He was still not dead, in spite of the extreme external forces applied onto him on a daily basis.

Thus, he skipped the wounded pride stage completely, going straight to flailing his arms around and choking out pathetic noises. Surely someone would understand his distress signals.

Haas, being the good brother he is, realized the problem and expressly pointed out that "the person you're hugging is losing his ability to breathe."

Blue hair whipped her head towards him, and Haas almost flinched from the red, inhuman glare. She did however loosen her grip on the boy, who took a deep breath and tried to wrestle his heartbeat back to normal.

Kaz turned his head to look at the girl. She was really pretty. Her eyes were crimson, slit vertically like a cat's eyes or a snake's, but he could find those nothing but beautiful. These eyes that looked up at him -she was so short!- with a warm expression he couldn't quite identify. It spread a warm, fuzzy feeling in his limbs. She looked really happy… Happy to see him?

But…

"Sorry, but who are you?"

...He tried really, really hard but... he couldn't recall meeting her ever before.

Something flickered in her expression, but before he deciphered it, a girl with a yellow dress appeared. She was no more than a blur while she ran, only to stop dead in her tracks right in front of them. Like pausing a video. Kaz immediately noticed that her eyes were not unlike those of the girl hugging him- they were probably relatives. Who were these Halfs?

The girl in the yellow dress went straight for the blue-haired girl. So many girls in a few seconds. Blue stopped hugging him and stared intensely at the new arrival, Yellow.

No one moved during the staring contest. Haas was too confused and he, too curious.

After a while, Blue just sighed. "I'm not leaving," she stated firmly, "and that's final."

She turned to look at him. "You don't mind if I keep hanging around you guys, right?"

Kaz and Haas exchanged a look. Well, they weren't really doing anything important; they were merely walking around by themselves since they ate lunch before their family. They already knew where they would be staying in Mistyshore, anyway…

They didn't really _mind_ but they really wanted, at least, an explanation.

"Why would you want to hang around us?" Kaz asked her.

"You look like someone very dear to me; someone I… mistook you...for." Blue said. "Can I hang out with you until I get that someone back?"

That sounded... mildly creepy.

Scratch that. This was outright creepy.

Kaz felt his brother squinting at her suspiciously. Of course he wouldn't be okay with it. Did that girl have no common sense? She was a Half, so she had to be at least fifty years older than them.

 _Agree. Let her come with us._

Most people would express surprise when hearing a hush come out of nowhere, but Kaz didn't bat an eye. Time seemed to slow to a still. Colors appeared more vivid.

A low rumble resounded below- a slow, guttural hum echoing everywhere around him.

A harmonious melody resonated above- light-fast notes so high they sent goosebumps on his skin.

" _Why?"_

His own voice sounded veiled, as if he was underwater.

 _I know who she is._

The voice was no longer a murmur. It blended with the melodic buzz reverberating everywhere around them, yet it was perfectly clear.

" _Who is she?"_

 _She definitely shouldn't be here…_

" _Who is she?"_

 _I don't think she will let you go. You are the one she's looking for. I don't know if she is absolutely certain of it, yet, but if she found us already…_

" _Who?!"_

 _I cannot tell you._

" _Why not?"_

 _Trust me._

And all of sudden he snapped back to reality. The sudden silence was deafening. Colors looked so much plainer. As always, Kaz felt a pang of loss about the vivid scenery that had slipped from his awareness.

He didn't know if Blue could tell something had changed- but she smiled at him.

Her smile. Oh, that smile.

The warm feeling came back, doubled with something that didn't belong to him- was it… nostalgia?

He didn't have time to wonder over _the other's_ feeling mixing with his- recalling where the conversation had left off, and seeing Haas opening his mouth to refuse her company- something needed to be done.

"Sure, you can come with us."

He'd always followed _his_ advice, and up until now, it had rarely been wrong. Actually, the only thing it was frequently wrong about was what to throw in rock paper scissors.

* * *

"Why..? I'm here to watch my sister, of course!"

Of course Claude would abandon his duties to see his little sister fight. He already procrastinated by any possible means, but for once, he had a legitimate reason to... It was the obvious outcome. Teo looked at the exasperated face of Claude's assistant and suppressed her own sigh.

"Aren't you excited about the event as well, Teo?" Claude asked. "It gathered some very interesting participants this year- you included. Sorry, I'm going to cheer for my sister, not you~"

Teo had a harder time suppressing her sigh every passing second.

"Even the non-participants are quite interesting…"

"Non-participants?" Teo raised her eyebrows.

Claude's expression had changed.

"Yes; some people you seem to know very well, they looked… Interesting. You should be more careful of who you keep around you, Teo."

Claude was smiling, but the young woman could tell that something was wrong. Her fighter sense was tingling, so to say.

Was he… threatening her?

No. It had to be her imagination.

The aura of enmity she felt from him- it had to be because of her rivalry with his sister… Right?

"...oh, but you reminded me! I haven't written to my sister once since I got here! She must be looking for me. Hold on just a-"

He opened his diary….. and froze with a disturbed expression.

* * *

Saha, Asha, and Ran were standing in a sandy clearing surrounded by palm trees, near the beach. The scorching sun had had the decency to not set the grains of sand ablaze here, so they found themselves burying their bare feet into soft, cool sand rather than embers.

Rao Leez had left them. His daughter Bera had called for him at the checkpoint, and only Ran was there to watch them both fight to death-

No, no, what was he thinking? It was just a spar.

Saha took a deep breath. He could do it. He could spar normally with Asha Leez -Rahiro- and win. He could ignore this weird... panic bubbling uncomfortably underneath his skin, threatening to take over his lungs.

It was nothing but irrationality. Irrationality caused by dreams…

 _Memories. They were memories._

…

Completely baseless. They weren't memories. He had a heat stroke or something. Maybe he met her before on Carte and remembered her name all of a sudden. No big deal. Nightmares in broad daylight, nothing more. He could win this!

...Right. And birds had more teeth than the Osmond family.

Asha was standing six strides from him, a dagger in each hand, graciously waiting for him to make the first move. Her poker face reminded him of a carnival mask- _petrified in a grotesque parody of a human._

She was waiting. For him.

He indulged her, his bracers glinting as he stepped forward.

Saha didn't want to start slow. He aimed a kick at her head, which was predictably stopped by her daggers. Asha pushed him back, trying to throw him off balance, but he quickly retracted his leg out of the way. He wanted to close in on her while her arms were raised, and use his momentum to kick her side, but she sidestepped, brought her arms back down and elbowed his foot. He winced oh so slightly when bones and flesh clashed painfully, but this was nothing he couldn't take.

She didn't waste any more time and aimed for his neck with one hand, using the other to guard her face. The way she held her daggers reminded him of a praying mantis. He countered the blade and tried to step backwards and out of her reach, but she didn't let him, taking a step forward for every step he backed away. They began exchanging blows and countering them, neither taking the advantage. Daggers met metal bracers with resounding clangs that made Saha's ears ring.

They weren't going anywhere conclusive with this. In this situation, the one with the most endurance would win. Asha would lose, and she was not one to foolishly challenge him, a Quarter, in endurance. She had to have an ace up her sleeve.

Something needed to change-

Saha saw an opening. Light-fast, he sent his foot towards her belly.

She smirked.

Of course.

What happened afterwards was a flurry of movements from both sides; she tried to sweep his foot from under him and he used his momentum to spin and send her flying with a powerful kick.

They both stumbled to the ground, momentarily halted in their dangerous dance.

Saha exhaled and smiled. His foot throbbed a bit, but nothing serious. Asha was rubbing her hip with a small grimace.

They eyes met and her expression melted back to an inhuman mask. She leaped.

They weren't any slower this time, but the short experience had given them some insight on the other's fighting style. Saha defended himself with the bracers and attacked with his legs, trying to keep out of her shorter range, while Asha attempted to close in and use her daggers to attack. She had to stay quick on her feet to dodge, as his blows were for the most part too heavy for her to block without hurting herself in some way.

In a flash, Saha realized that the weirdness in his head was almost completely subdued. He wasn't a fighter in these "memories", but a magician, and the magician had gracefully handed the reins to this fighter self.

This thought brought him inexplicable pride.

Speaking of, Asha's movements slowed ever so slightly. Was she wearing down already? A couple of strikes connected in that one second but he had an ominous feeling. That couldn't be right. She had to have a plan.

 _Asha Rahiro is predictable in that she will always try to be unpredictable._

Saha didn't have the time to wonder on the wisdom of these words, but understood the message.

The lightning zap was unwelcome, but not entirely unexpected, coming from Asha.

Saha wasn't so weak as to get seriously hurt by a zap like that, but the shock slowed down his movements just enough to get a wonderful knee to the ribs. He stumbled backwards, breath taken out of him. She stared at him, a mere two strides away, and smirked again.

Nevertheless, he stood his ground, breathing deeply.

"Are you ready to admit I'm right, yet?" Asha asked, derisively taunting him. Oh, smack talk? Really?

Saha glared. "Over my dead body," he spat, before running over to attack her again.

Asha let him come at her, and Saha attacked with renewed vigor, his kicks less refined but packed with more force. She countered them with a cold indifference, refusing to wipe the infuriating grin off her face.

It disturbed him further. Asha was one to control her emotions, not let them show so easily.

Saha attacked and attacked with the same pattern, and Asha was almost bored when she moved to block yet another low kick to her abdomen- only to get a heavy punch to the side of her face.

It was Asha's turn to stumble backwards, reeling from the punch and the back of her armed hand brushing her cheek. Saha smiled at her, saying, "Are _you_ ready to admit I'm right?"

Asha didn't reply. Rather, she glared at him with a truly impressive amount of hostility. If it had been someone else, he would have thought this reaction to be childish, but it made the weird panic rise up with renewed force. He was still in fighting mode, however, so he just shook it off and threw himself back into the fight.

Both of them weren't simply sparring anymore. Asha was angry, now, _Saha was angry,_ and it showed in their movements, in their strategies. They couldn't give their best here, because that was saved for the tournament, but they gave a pretty good show of their favorite -and most dirty- tricks in this fight.

The first one to land a serious hit was Asha, who slashed his upper right arm with a glaring cut.

All of sudden, time slowed. The stinging pain spread like a spider's web all over him. Absolutely all of his scars had been reopened to warm the cool sand- with _blood_. _His blood. He was going to die, he could see it now; already his body was torn apart, his flesh and organs thrown away into a bloody firework._

 _He should've been in agonizing pain. He should have been, but he was numb, terrifyingly numb, and he was just waiting for the spell to finish him and put him out of his misery-_

* * *

SLAP!

Saha's eyelids twitched.

"-oi, wake up-"

"-slapping her like that-"

Wake up? Had he been asleep?

Saha blinked his eyes open, squinting to recognize the dark silhouette hiding the sun from him. He suddenly became aware of the surface spreading behind him, of gravity pulling him backwards- he was on the ground. The sand hadn't warmed to his presence yet, so he couldn't have been out of it for so long-

Someone had just slapped his right cheek silly. He couldn't see who it was against the light, so he had to wait for his eyes to get used to the ambient light. Seconds passed as he stayed completely still, little by little deciphering a nose, cheeks, a mouth, eyes-

Asha, of all people, was peering downwards, with a mildly concerned expression. Mildly concerned about what? Him? It could only be him, which was pretty damn weird, because Asha was the one who shredded him up in the first-

No, she didn't.

 _She was just sparring with him; this version of her didn't kill him._

Saha tried to sort out his timeline, but he was reduced to whimpering from the painful headache he got when he tried to. He could only sit up and bury his head in his knees.

"Seriously," he heard Asha mutter, although he couldn't see what she was doing, "if you hate blood so much you freeze like that from a simple cut, then you shouldn't agree to that idiot's idea in the first place… No, actually, you shouldn't become a fighter at all… "

He thought he heard someone tell him off for being pushy about Mirha's legs when he ignored his own needs, but he frankly didn't remember whether the one who said it was Asha or the familiar voice in his head by the time a frantic Ran returned with Rao on his heels.

* * *

Turns out Rao had been called by his daughter to sponsor a Half.

The Half, whose name was pending, had been hesitant to enter the city, "saying" he had to travel more, and only Leez's insistence that the nearest village to here was too far away had convinced him to go inside with them.

At least he seemed to get along with Leez well enough… Rao was vaguely suspicious, but he didn't think a superior sura would have just followed a twelve-years-old girl inside a city full of fighters and magicians so easily.

Now with a Half following them around, Rao thought with some certainty that this would be his last surprise for the already eventful day. After all, the sun would only set in a few more hours-

He immediately regretted this thought when Ran frantically met him, yelling that Asha was hurt and not getting up.

Rao froze. _What happened to his daughter-_

But wait, Ran thought Asha was Saha, and vice versa. Was _Saha_ the one hurt?

Either way, both he and Leez (and the Half, who was affected by the mood) ran all the way back to the two fighters.

Rao found himself correct. Saha was crouching on the ground, head resting on his knees, while Asha was awkwardly standing by his side.

Rao raised an eyebrow in her direction. Asha shrugged, and mouthed "Blood phobia."

"Phobia?" Rao asked, and Saha twitched.

"I don't have blood phobia," he groaned, but no one paid him much attention.

"We were fighting normally," Asha recounted, "but when blood was shed... motionless. Kicked into a tree and wouldn't wake up."

"Yeah," Ran piped in, "Even her eyes weren't moving, even though they were open- for a second she was completely still. Like a statue! She wouldn't wake up until Saha slapped her silly. It was really creepy."

"This is a freeze response," Asha begun, her voice slipping into lecture mode, "which is frequent in phobias. They usually appear because of childhood traumas, as they are primarily a child's reaction to danger- when they feel overwhelmed, they stop moving and distance themselves from reality because their brains can't deal with the emotional input-"

"...this sounds bad..." Leez interrupted, having understood the general idea. "Should we call Mirha and tell-"

"NO!"

Everyone turned to look at Saha.

"I will get fine on my own," he insisted, "so don't tell Mirha any of this. Please…"

Asha, Ran and Rao looked at each other.

"Well, it's not like Mirha is your sister or anything, and she might not be able to help you much…" Ran said.

While Ran wasn't right on the first part, Rao agreed with him on the second part. _Hoti asvins_ was useful for injuries, but not for mental illnesses, traumas, or in this case- phobias. It had to be treated by a professional over months of therapy. Talking about it now would bring unneeded stress to Mirha, and Saha insisted that it would go away on its own…

Asha apparently reached the same conclusion, although she was skeptical.

"Fine, none of us will talk about what happened. Actually, nothing happened. I won our spar and hit you so hard, you passed out."

Saha gave her a grateful look, before standing up. The cloth covering his right arm -neither could perfect _hoti asvins_ with their low divine affinity- was torn, but he didn't care and he bid them farewell before they could question him further.

"...Did this really have to happen…?" Rao heard Ran muttering to no one in particular.

He silently agreed with the brown-haired boy.

* * *

Rao followed Ran to his house, with his family and the Half on his toes. Ah, maybe they shouldn't mention to Ran he was a Half... Rao heard his favorite little monkey had Half phobia.

The brown-haired monkey was currently giving Asha suspicious looks, and he wondered how long the boy would wait before he asked "Saha" what "he" was doing here. He was currently silent, which was remarkable given that he was muttering to himself all the way back.

Rao initially thought he had forgotten to do some kind of homework, but had changed his mind when he overheard some... suspicious sentences. Something like "Why? Why did you have to make them fight…"

Was he talking to himself and feeling guilty for suggesting it…? Rao would have to tell him it was all alright, after they had settled down. It wasn't his fault. He shouldn't blame himself.

The house was a leisurely distance from the Fighter Guild. It was quite the mansion, actually; but most of the windows were tightly shut. Was the sun always this scorching in Mistyshore? Rao didn't come often enough. He couldn't believe he hadn't dropped by since before the Cataclysm.

Ran unlocked the door and sidestepped to let them all in.

The windows of the entrance room were among the ones shut. The room must have been grand once, but as it was, they were plunged into the dim light the door could let inside. He didn't discern any other light source. Actually, he couldn't see any furniture.

The shade and the emptiness made the experienced fighter uneasy.

"I thought you lived with your brother since the Cataclysm," Rao began, surprised to hear the echo of his voice. He had heard that his poor friend lost his parents, but he had been so damn _busy_ since he came back- and it had been old news by then- and then they had had to go back into hiding for Kubera's sake… This was over, of course, but in the frenzy of his own life Ran had completely slipped his mind. "Is he no longer living here?"

Ran stared at him, motionless.

"He's dead. All my family is." 

* * *

**:)**

 **In case you're wondering about the Osmond family, look it up on TV Tropes.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yeeeah it's been a while. Life happened. Also other projects to work on (including another Kubera one, woohoo!)**

 **I apologize in advance for any bad pun contained in the following chapter.**

 **Without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

 _"He's dead. All my family is."_

"Even your uncle and aunt…?" The older man was stricken. "I had thought… I assumed your uncle simply considered the current Priest a capable successor."

"My uncle would've never given the position to him, even if he _is_ fitting." Ran spat, "he loved his job too much for that…"

Ran remembered everything. He remembered stepping out of his house, in a daze, after his mother had died - _had been killed by him_ \- and had taken his father and brother with her. And just when he had been so happy that Lutz had finally gathered up his business and came back from Eloth…

" _Ran, run!"_

If his brother's last words didn't haunt him so, he would have smiled. They sounded like a bad pun.

This whole day seemed like a horrible joke to him now.

The memory of Ran looking for his aunt and uncle was blur. He recalled that he had wanted to ask his aunt for help. He had frozen his family member's bodies. They were going to be fine, right? Auntie would use Hoti Visnu and everything would be fine. They would laugh about the whole ordeal by dinnertime.

Nevermind that, in the brightly sunlit streets of Mistyshore, there had been too many dead people to count.

He had searched all over town, not minding the mangled bodies and muffled screams. The fighting had long been over by then. It was the calm after a tragedy had struck. Everything was unmoving.

He hadn't been able to find them.

In fact, it had taken a while for the rescue teams to find their bodies and confirm their deaths.

He remembered the moment he had found out that even Rana had died. She had gone out of her shelter to look for him in spite of the chaos. His crush had died because of him, out of his sight, and he never got to see her again.

In a way, he preferred it that way. He hadn't wanted to see her too-still eyes, the soulless look she would have given him before the coffin would have been shut closed -had she even gotten one?- and the red-stained blue of her hair…

The previous day, -he remembered clearly, to this day, too many years later- he'd said "See you tomorrow, I'll give you back your homework then." He had been so cheerful, and she had sternly dared him to try her wrath-

After finding out she was gone, after his soul had died a little more inside, he had burnt the homework, hoping the gray smoke rising in the sky would reach her. Deep down he knew it had been a petty act, but it brought him a little solace.

Ran had become completely alone over the course of a single day.

He had wanted to scream at the sky. He had not been able to hear anything but his distraught heartbeat and ghosts, ghosts of voices -or were they voices of ghosts now?- telling him he was next, he was going to die, because everything was falling apart, because _he_ was falling apart; but the chaos was over. Everything had been still.

His heart had been a storm and the world should have been the same for all he knew, but the sun had kept on shining.

* * *

Ran told what happened to him to his friend's family. His voice eventually started cracking at the end, and Rao moved to hug the young man, his daughter following quickly. Ran had choked on his own tears.

He didn't remember how good it felt to hug someone.

Saha and the meek friend of Leez hadn't dared to move. The Quarter didn't blame them.

He went straight to crying afterwards. He had stayed alone in his house for days after… everything. The inheritance of pretty much his whole family was given to him, including a part of his brother's firm that was now run by his brother's vice president. People had left him alone, believing in his right to mourn, and when he had returned to the College of Magic, because he didn't want to be a fighter after this, nobody asked him if there was anything wrong, if he really was alright under the cheerful facade.

Only now, only now and only in Rao's presence, his best friend of old, was he finally getting physical comfort. It was something he hadn't realized he needed so much.

He felt a pang of resentment towards the one person that had held him together after everything, but knew he shouldn't blame them… It would have been stupid to expect any kind of comfort from…

"I'm sorry," Rao started to say, interrupting his trail of thoughts, "If I had known… if I had bothered to ask before… you wouldn't have been so lonely for so long… I'm sorry..."

Ran shook his head, knowing that his friend must've been really busy to take this long to come for a visit, and said, "Better late than never, hyung…"

Besides, it wasn't like he had strictly no company, even if it wasn't really the kind that comforted him at all…

Rao just hugged him tighter, and Leez started telling him that everything would be fine, that the Leez family would take care of Ran and make him part of their family.

He felt touched. Really.

….But Ran wanted to tell her that all he wanted was his own family back. Not another new family. His own. His stupidly handsome older brother. His stupidly expecting dad. His stupidly… mom… he wanted his mom… Not Leez's, his.

However, he was still too sad to speak, tears he had longed to shed choking his words before they left his throat. They stayed unspoken, prisoner in his mind- probably for the better.

It took a while for Ran for calm down. He wiped his tears and moved away from Rao, comforted enough to regain his composure. He felt warm inside. A stirring of gratitude made him smile to his older friend, but he didn't say a word.

Rao let him move, but kept a hand on his shoulder, visible -tangible- comfort.

"I think it's time now to tell you guys where your rooms are, eh? The rooms on the upper floor and the bathroom there are for the girls, while the rooms in this floor are for us guys. The kitchen is here, beside the bathroom of this floor, and all the rooms should be cleaned up…" Ran realized his voice sounded tired, and he was, so he just added "If you want to know anything, just come and ask me, okay?"

He shrugged off Rao's hand and went to his room, then crashed into his bed, strangely exhausted by the evening, but feeling lighter than he remembered ever being.

* * *

Blue and the other girl, Yellow (Sagara and Cloche, as the former introduced them) kept following Kaz and Haas the rest of the day.

It hadn't felt as stalkerish as he had feared. Sagara was surprisingly agreeable company, though Cloche didn't say a word.

At all.

Sagara had explained that her cousin, as well as her cousin's brother, couldn't speak due to their sura heritage. They had lost the brother in the crowd, but weren't excessively worried… It wasn't like there was a murderer walking around, right?

It were just some odd habits he unwittingly showed that made things a bit weird, like him saying an odd turn of phrase, or reacting with a certain facial expression, only for Sagara to turn to him wide-eyed and asking him to repeat it again.

Her voice was never completely sane every time she'd ask that, more a borderline fanatical screeching, and Kaz felt his brother tensing whenever she did it. He'd have to convince Haas she was safe, somehow, which would be difficult considering his older brother didn't have his own trustworthy disembodied voice to reassure him.

The problem came when they had to go back "home".

They had directions. They knew where they were going. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was that Kaz, no matter how nice Sagara and her cousin were, could not invite them to sleep over at someone else's house.

When he had asked her where she was going to sleep, she had answered "wherever, don't worry about it", which he easily translated as "I actually didn't think that far, but don't bother". He didn't want to think about how he could already understand what she said between the lines after only one day.

Kaz scratched his head. He felt bad to leave her knowing that she would either pull an all-nighter (Halfs could apparently stay awake way longer than purebloods, the lucky bastards) or crash at some kind of cheap hotel that wasn't full yet. Unless they settled in a tree or something.

* * *

Asha woke up before everyone else, very early in the morning. Rao and Leez weren't exactly early risers, and sometimes she would be the only person awake in the house, even with Anna rising early to do her household chores. Even Kaz and Haas, when they were sleeping over (which was more often than not although the brothers had their own house), would wake up way after her.

Alone, the optimum use of her time would be either studying or training. Sometimes she would spend the time just thinking, musing about what had happened and would happen.

But before she'd think about doing any of these, she would drink a good cup of fresh coffee.

After checking the kitchen and finding out that Ran Sairofe didn't drink coffee, she started thinking about where she could get her precious, precious coffee, and concluded that the Fighter Guild was the closest establishment with a coffee machine in working order.

Yesterday's night had been far from uneventful, and Asha decided that she could use a walk.

She would've never suspected… the monkey had to bear a heavy burden… unexpected.

While the Guild would be open at this hour, it was still early enough that she didn't expect anyone but some staff to be there yet. She would just grab a cup and go back to-

She was wrong. Someone was there this early in the day, filling his own cup of coffee. Not only that, but he was the fuchsia-haired young man she had had gotten acquainted with yesterday.

After Saha finished filling the mug, he turned around, only to spot her staring.

He glared back.

After a moment, his expression morphed into one of resignation and he stepped away from the coffee machine, this time making sure to take his coffee with him.

In the end, they were just sipping their fuming cups silently, both leaning on the wall beside the coffee machine.

 _Almost everything about Saha is completely different, but his eyes are the same. Inside, he's the one he should be, but not outside._

Asha blinked. What? Where had that thought come from?

 _It's not just me who's different. Something has changed, but it wasn't just my decision._

It was her voice, but then again it wasn't her. Was she still dreaming? Asha considered pinching herself, but deemed it unlikely to help. Her heartbeat quickened. What was going on?

"So…" Saha broke her concentration, politely trying to make some small talk. "What did you come here for?"

Asha decided to be merciful and graced him with a single word rather than a snort and six dots in a speech bubble.

"Coffee."

"I can understand that…" There was a surprising touch of fondness in his voice. "But there was nowhere closer than the Guild?"

"Ran Sairofe isn't a fan of coffee, apparently." The voice had returned to silence. Damn. Well, no use sulking, it might come back later. Or maybe the coffee had finally taken effect. Asha turned her full attention to her interlocutor.

Saha raised an eyebrow. "You're living with him? Wouldn't he figure out who we are, then?"

"He actually did." Asha refrained a chuckle, trying to keep her amusement in check while recounting the tale. "When I went to my room with Leez, he stopped me and asked why I was going to the girls' rooms. He started asking why I was staying with the Leez family, and not going to my little sister. He was a bit… shaken last night, and he seemed ready to actually fight me, so I just told him I was actually Asha to get him off. And do you know what he answered?"

"What?" Saha said, already grinning widely.

"He said, "Yeah, right! As if I'd fall into this sort of stupid trap! Seriously, what idiot would confuse the both of you? You're definitely a guy, just look in the freakin mirror, man!""

Saha let out a quiet, breathy laughter before choking out "I wish I had been there. I really, really could have used a good laugh last night…"

"Why?" She tried to keep her tone even, but she was pretty sure he could hear her concern.

Saha looked at her briefly with his creepy, haunted, _-haunting-_ eyes. She held his stare a couple of seconds before he turned away.

"...I couldn't get enough sleep. It's why I'm here, actually; I just gave up and went for a walk and coffee..."

He didn't say any more. Awkward, Asha didn't say anything either. Her brain whirred. Did his phobia trigger nightmares? His reaction was really strong...

He didn't expect her to apologize or something, did he?

But no, he just stayed silent, apparently thinking about whatever kept him awake.

"Well, I'll go back to wandering around the city, I guess. Then back to... paperwork..." Saha sounded a little down on the last sentence.

 _And why does he have so much paperwork? He's not a priest anymore._

The voice returned, and Asha had to stop and instantly ask, _Why would he be a priest?_

There was no answer. Why wasn't it answering, dammit? Hang on, the more important question was "why was she hearing it in the first place". Was the voice unwilling to communicate? But then why had it talked? Was she just hearing things?

This was making her uneasy.

Oblivious to her mental pause, Saha finished his cup with a slurping sound. "Tell the Leez and Sairofe families "Hi" for me, can you?"

"What Sairofe family?" she spoke up, confused. "There's only Ran..."

Saha, who was already turning to leave, stopped. "But he has a brother who used to live in Eloth…" He trailed off before freezing.

Asha mentally rewinded to Ran's story last night. Did he not know Ran's brother was dead? But he had died over ten years ago, way before Carte's destruction… Saha _was_ born on Carte, right? There was no way Saha had met Ran's brother before… Unless Saha had visited Willarv before the Cataclysm?

"O-Ok. Say "Hi" to just Ran for me."

He was gone before Asha could ask how he knew Ran's brother.

His too-abrupt exit, coupled with his and Ran's breakdown yesterday, made her wonder whether this place made people go crazy. Would she be the person to break down next? She was already hearing voices!

She hoped not; that would be incredibly humiliating.

* * *

Clophe noted the sun was peeking from behind the curtains. His keen ears picked up on a light snoring from the other side of the wall- Airi, no doubt.

He hadn't found Cloche and Sagara, but he wasn't overly worried. Six more days until the tournament, Airi had said. Plenty of time.

He had an uneasy feeling, though. The people he had met yesterday… He needed to find Cloche as soon as possible.

He closed his eyes, pretending to sleep, and replayed the last evening in his mind.

* * *

Clophe was glad that the human he ran into had "listened" to his request easily enough.

She had leaped into action after he gave her a description, with him following close on her heels. She had chased after a couple before he could confirm their identities, and he now had had to wade carefully through the crowd lest he hit someone accidentally and broke their arms or something. Humans were too fragile to his liking.

"Hey! HEY!" The woman had yelled, "Stop for a moment! I'm just returning your brother!"

However, her yelling hadn't made the two they chased stop. Rather, they had seemed to move even faster, based on how the violet-haired woman had increased her speed too.

They had quickly been moving closer and closer to what he would later know to be the registration booth, and as a result, the crowd had thickened…

"I'm sorry," she had said eventually, "I can no longer see them…"

Clophe had sighed, intending to tell her they weren't the people he was looking for, still annoyed at the mad dash he had been dragged into.

Nevertheless, he had opened the notebook that was given to him, suppressing his annoyance, to bid her goodbye and look for them in his own way…

...ok, this was _definitely_ not his handwriting.

He had stared at it for a bit, wondering when the hell could that woman have written when they were both moving fast, until the woman had snatched the note to look at it.

"Oh, it must be from my brother." she had told him with a chuckle, undoubtedly noticing the bewilderment on his face. "Our diaries are... connected to each other, so what I write in mine also appears in his own diary, and vice versa… he must've been surprised when he saw your handwriting… Let's see, how badly did he overreact?"

Clophe had spared a moment to ponder about the humans' innovations, while the woman had read her brother's short note. He had peeked over her shoulder, barely in time to read "Where is my sister? How did you get this notebook?!" before it had disappeared.

"It doesn't stay all day, so you have to read it fast. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any space left and since they're very expensive…"

She had taken out a pen to write a reassuring response then had turned to the bewildered Ananta Rakshasa.

"I will have to go meet my brother now, if only for him to stop worrying… Do you know where you are going to stay? You could meet up with your relatives there."

Clophe had shaken his head "no", and she had sighed.

"I guess I should have you stay with me, then! Don't worry, I'm not a creepy old lady."

Which was how he had ended up sharing a room with her older sibling, _who apparently was the creepy one_ , and his even weirder assistant.

He couldn't pinpoint why, but this "Matt Tod" assistant gave him a stomachache.

* * *

 **Or maybe you're just hungry, Clophe. That also happens.**


End file.
